Coun Ward confirmed the partial closure of Broad Street would act as a live test for changes set to be triggered by the redevelopment of Paradise Circus and the extension of the Midland Metro to Centenary Square, due to take place over the next five years.

Tory transport spokesman Coun Deirdre Alden (Edgbaston), who exposed the closure, said: “The Labour leadership looks incompetent. They are not being properly briefed about what is going on.”